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Please bear with me as I'm new here and I'm honestly not super tech-savvy. I'm seeking help because my laptop seems to have spontaneously lost the ability to connect to (or even detect) my home network internet connection. (Details about the laptop and OS are towards the end of this post.) When I open Chrome, I get the error message, "Unable to connect to the internet." When I click on the usual icon that I'd use to locate my home network, I see, "Currently connected to: Unidentified network. No network access." My network does not show up. There is a link for "Open Network and Sharing Center." I attached a screen shot of what I see when I click on that link. Clicking on the "Connect to a network" option leads me right back to "Currently connected to: Unidentified network. No network access" with a link to open the Network and Sharing Center. I can't get the laptop to find my home network no matter which choice I try.

I got out my old HP laptop (which has wireless) for troubleshooting purposes. It immediately found my home network and accessed the internet without any problems. So I it would seem there are no issues with my modem and/or router. I suspect I've just done something dumb in the laptop settings. I once accidentally turned off all sound for internet websites and couldn't restore it until a friend came to troubleshoot, so this scenario does not seem unlikely.

Also, in case it provides any clues, I can tell you when the problem started. My laptop started grousing at me about an IP address conflict. I ignored it and kept closing the error box (I wasn't using it for internet when that happened). Then about a couple weeks ago, my desktop PC (i.e., my command central) told me it couldn't access the internet due to an IP address conflict. I depend on internet access for work and school, so in a panic, I disconnected the laptop from the internet hoping it would fix the problem. (How did I do that? I'm not sure I even recall. I think I just did some right-clicking on the "connected to the internet" icon at the bottom right and then chose "disconnect." But I might have done more than that. Maybe disabled wireless...?) That did not fix the problem, so I placed an emergency call to a tech-savvy friend who said I should unplug my router and then plug it back in. PRESTO, I had internet on my desktop PC again. But I've not had internet on my laptop since then.

Any hints or troubleshooting advice would be sincerely appreciated. I started to include the information from the introductory "Basic Requirements Before Posting your Networking Thread" post below, but then thought it best simply to post my question before getting out a flashlight to locate router and modem model numbers as I doubt there is anything wrong with either of them. However, should you need this information, I would be most happy to provide it. Thank you so much!

Danielle

Specs: I have an Acer Aspire V5-171-9620 laptop. Pretty much anything you'd want to know about the specs on it can be found at the link below (you can scroll down a bit for the specifics). The only difference is that I had Windows 8 taken off and replaced with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

My service provider is Comcast (cable), my antivirus is Norton Security Suite, and I have ABP Popup Blocker installed. (This is where I sorta trailed off and decided simply to post my question before continuing.)

When you say "home network internet connection", do you mean your laptop can't connect to your home network, or to the internet? There is a difference.

If you can't connect to your home network, have you tried doing so by cable instead of wireless? That should tell you if it's the laptop, or just the wireless adapter that's the problem. (Always helps to know what's not wrong.)

Oh, I'm sorry - maybe I don't know the right lingo here. I meant that my laptop can't connect to the internet. When I click "Connect to a network," typically it has an option for D-Red, which is the name of my home network (or whatever is the proper term for that). Typically it connected to D-Red automatically. Now it doesn't even see it. As I said, my other laptop saw D-Red and connected no problem.

Clicking on any of these prompted me to purchase a program, so I stopped there. Do any of these sound like promising leads? Re: "Have you made any changes to the properties of the wireless adapter?" - Not that I know of. I'd pretty much have to do that intentionally, right? It was working fine two weeks ago, now it isn't.

Oh and hey PBzeer - I just looked back at my reply to you, and lo and behold, the word "drivers" in my reply was a link leading to the aforementioned program that I downloaded and ran. I definitely did not insert that link in my reply to you. I guess this website just randomly inserts links where it sees fit...?

Oh and hey PBzeer - I just looked back at my reply to you, and lo and behold, the word "drivers" in my reply was a link leading to the aforementioned program that I downloaded and ran. I definitely did not insert that link in my reply to you. I guess this website just randomly inserts links where it sees fit...?

I would suggest uninstalling whatever you just installed.

Did the word "drivers" cause a small popup window when you placed your mouse over it?

Thanks for the tip - I just uninstalled the program. It was Uniblue DriverScanner. The link doesn't cause a popup when I hover my cursor over it. It simply turns the arrow icon into a hand icon. Jeesh but the internet can be nefarious....

Speaking of the internet, any other ideas for getting my laptop back onto the internet? As I said, I'm pretty sure it's a setting somewhere, but danged if I can find it.

Uniblue is a horrible company. They have broken so many computers with their crapware.

Honestly, we could keep making suggestions (after all, that is what we are here for) but since you have the laptop online via LAN cable, you might want to ask your "tech-savvy friend" to use TeamViewer to remotely control your computer. That friend might fix the issue in a matter of seconds.

If that is not an option - then please post a screenshot of what this window looks like for you:

It would be best (but not required) if you would use Microsoft's Snipping Tool to save the screenshot image as a file - then attach it to your next post. Here is some info on using that tool: How to Use the Snipping Tool in Vista That Vista info is good for W7 too.

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